Mr. and Pharrell Williams: a Call to Action at the Musée Guimet

Classroom chairs in neon colours and adorned with graffiti tags, a large collection of television screens and life-sized sculptures of armed manga child characters have taken over the rotunda on the fourth floor of the Musée Guimet. It’s easy to recognise the artistic touch of Mr., self-proclaimed otaku and protégé of Takashi Murakami and member of the studio founded by the latter, Kaikai Kiki. Here, he’s collaborating with a big name on the international music scene: Pharrell Williams.

The work, entitled ‘A Call to Action’, carries a strong message: children must take up arms to confront the troubled world that adults have left them.

‘Kids run the world and this work is a challenge to leaders to do something immediately – for a better, bright future’, declares Pharrell Williams in the press release for the exhibition.

Williams was a huge fan of Mr.’s work and the two began communicating 5 years ago, and soon found they had certain things in common. So much so, in fact, that they decided to develop this exhibition, with Pharrell Williams responsible for commission and Mr. behind the creation.

‘Amid the tension and crisis of uncertainty that we live in today, we need to believe in the hope that can be found in children, and take inspiration on the promise of their optimistic outlook and spirit. Kids have the power. With art, we start this dialogue in this way’, Mr. tells the team at the museum. After a somewhat chaotic summer for politics, the message conveyed by the two artists comes just at the right time.